JAMES FAGIN was born in New York City in 1838, joined Forrest
Engine Company No. 3 in 1861, and continued in service until 1865. He was
appointed a member of the Fire Insurance Patrol on the Twenty-fifth of
June, 1868. He is a present member of Patrol No. 2. Mr. Fagin is a member
of the Volunteer Firemen's Association.

JAMES H. ENGLISH, of Pearl Hose Company 28, joined the Fire
Department in 1863, and served thirteen years with the company, and was
representative for three years. he was one of the workers and one of the
original ten bunkers who took pride in making the carriage one of the
quickest in the Department. He is now in business as a blank book
manufacturer.

JOHN KAVANAGH was born on the twenty-second of June, 1832, in
the old "Eighth Ward of New York" and at an early age joined 34
Engine. Mr. Kavanagh was apprenticed to the boiler maker's trade and soon
acquired a thorough knowledge of that business. In 1857 Mr. Kavanagh was
elected assistant foreman, and so satisfactorily did he perform the duties
that tat the expiration of his term of office he was elected foremen,
which honor he held from 1859 to 1862. Many instances of bravery and
coolness at fires are told of Mr. Kavanagh. He was also representative of
the company from 1863 to 1865. He was appointed in the present Department
Janaury 29, 1867, and assigned to Hook and Ladder 8, and in 1869 was
transferred to Engine Company 30. He was promoted to be assistant engineer
in 1871, and in 1878 was promoted to be engineer. In the year 1854, while
running to a fire down Broadway, he was tripped by one of the men and
caught under the engine, and was dragged for nearly a block before he
would get free, and then he was run over and had his leg broken. In 1865
at a fire on the corner of King and Washington Streets, he was buried
under a wall and was pulled out after much difficulty. On November 14,
1868, he saved two lives at the risk of his own at the fire in the Stewart
House. In the same year he saved the life of Thomas Farrell, a brother
fireman. The fire was on the dock of the Neptune line if steamers at the
foot of Murray Street. Farrell slipped into the river, and Kavanagh caught
the end of a coil of rope lying on the deck of a boat, jumped in after him
and seized him just as he was about to go down. They were both pulled out
by the members of their company. In 1869, at a fire in Church Street, near
Canal, Kavanagh saved the life of Thomas Smith at the risk of his own. In
1873, at a fire in Crosby Street, in the rear of Howard Street, a back
wall of a house fell outward into an alley, burying Foreman Martin Walsh,
of engine Company 30, and Foreman Wilhelm, of engine Company 29. Kavanagh
lifted Foreman Walsh out and took him to a store in Howard Street, and
from there to a hospital. At another time, at a fire at Jackson Square, he
again saved the life of Foreman Walsh. They were both on the second floor
of a burning building when the floor gave way, and Foreman Walsh had just
time enough to straddle a window sill until the arrival of Kavanagh so
that he would not fall into the flames. They were both burnt about the
hands and face.

JOHN DAILEY was born in the eleventh Ward about fifty-three
years ago. In his early youth he attended private schools, and prepared
himself for an active business life. In his early manhood he served his
apprenticeship with one of the extensive engineering and machine concerns
on the east side. He became a master mechanic in practical engineering,
etc. He was first identified with Atlantic Engine Company No. 18, being
one of the active participants in organizing the company, of which he
remained a member until its disbandment. In 1856 he joined Hose Company
No. 34, was elected and served as foreman of that company until the growth
of his business interests in Brooklyn necessitated his removal to that
city. On 1859 he joined Mechanics' Hose Company No. 2, of Brooklyn, E. D.,
and served with it until 1864, when he resigned. Mr. Daily is an active
member of the Exempt Firemen's association, and of the volunteer Firemen's
Association of Brooklyn, E. D. He is also a valuable member of the
Volunteer Firemen's Association of the City of New York, on all occasions
taking an active part in every movement for the interest of his old-time
companions. He was chief aid to marshal John Decker in the "Bartholdi"
day parade of Volunteer Firemen, the success of which was, in a great
measure, due to his exertions.

EDWARD P. DURHAM was born in 1826, is one of the "Old
Vamps" whose progeny can point back with considerable pride to his
record as a Volunteer fireman. He first joined Constitution Engine Company
No. 7, of Brooklyn, E. D., in 1853, where he served his full time, after
which he resigned and moved to New York. At a fire in Talman Street,
Brooklyn, in the winter of 1855. He particularly distinguished himself by
saving the life ofd an aged man from the attic of a blazing frame
building. Having deposited his almost lifeless burden in the hands of his
companions on the street, he rushed back into the building in search of
another decrepit old man, who he knew had been in the building, and in
doing so very nearly lost his own life, the upper part of the building
falling in. He was rescued by his comrades, but was badly injured. The
aged man he was in search of was rescued through the rear of the building
by another fireman. Mr. Durham performed many other acts of mercy. On
moving to New York City he joined United State Engine Company No. 23, and
served with that company until the disbandment of the Volunteer Department
in 1865. Mr. Durham is now an active member of the Volunteer Firemen's
Association of New York, taking an interest in everything pointing toward
the benefit of his old-time companions.

JAMES J. SLEVIN, ex-Alderman and Register of this city, was a
member of No. 9 Hose company, and considered the handsomest-looking man in
the whole service of the Fire department. On days of popular
celebration--like the Fourth of July--the girls had eyes for him alone.
The headquarters of the company were at that time in Mulberry Street. Mr.
Slevin filled several offices, was representative, engineer, and foreman,
and was connected with the company for a full term. The company had a
stirring experience in its day, and had many prominent men connected with
it, or at least who became prominent in after years.

EDWARD BONNOLL, born on October 20, 1826, performed his first
fire service with Clinton Engine No. 4 in 1846. In 1857 he joined Tompkins
Hose. He was at one tine foreman of Hose No. From 1862 to 1865 Mr. Bonnoll
served as fire commissioner. He was also a member of the board of Trustees
of the Veterans firemen's Association. Mr. Bonnoll died on December 17,
1885. Few firemen were more widely popular than he was. His funeral from
the Club House of the Veteran Firemen, No. 53 East Tenth Street, was
attended by hundred of his late comrades.

ANTHONY J. ALLAIRE is one of the celebrated family whose name
was well known as the great iron workers and boiler builders. The "Allaire
Works" built the boiler for the first steamship that ever crossed the
Atlantic, the "Savannah," that sailed from Savannah,
Georgia, for St. Petersburg (ands successfully made the trip) years before
the "Sirius" entered New York harbor. The last piece of
work from the Allaires' hands was the boilers for the Collins steamship
"Baltic." The work of the firm was familiar on all
classes of steam vessels from the St. Lawrence River to the Spanish Main.
Anthony J. was the last of the name engaged in the iron business. He
joined Engine Company No. 41 in 1853. His first experience as a fireman
was at the destruction of the Harper Brothers' buildings. Mr. Allaire
served three years as assistant foreman, and as foreman one term, when an
accident incapacitated him from active duty, and he resigned his office,
but remained a member until 1864. Mr. Allaire was appointed on the police
force August 24, 1860, has filled every position in the Police Department
from patrolman to captain, to which position he was promoted May 23, 1867,
and is now in command at the Tenth Precinct, having performed twenty-six
years of active duty on the force.

Mr. Allaire's war record is one to be proud of. He went out with the
Second Police Regiment (One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment N. Y.
Volunteers) as captain, was promoted to major and lieutenant colonel, and
was mustered out of the service as brevet colonel and brevet brigadier
general. He was too modest to talk much of "moving accidents by floor
and field," where he was personally engaged. But there is one event
that he takes just pride in. Our fleet Alexandria, Red river, Louisiana,
under Admiral Porter, was imprisoned. The water had fallen so low that the
vessels could not move. Mr. Allaire was selected as one of the officers to
build a dam. His mechanical education was here of service. The dam was
constructed, and the general says it was one of the happiest moments of
his life when gunboats, supply vessels, and transports passed safely
through, making a marine procession of over one hundred and fifty vessels.
Millions of dollars were saved to the government, and the officer and men
were proud of their achievement.

JOHN MULLIN was a member of that once famous Hose Company No. 3,
which was organized in 1832, and was called "Independence." It
had a roll of thirty members, and its headquarters were in Hester Street.
Geo. Spencer was foreman, and he went to the front, when the war broke
out, in the New York Fire Zouave Regiment.

JOHN BUCKBEE WAS BORN ON December 29, 1831, and became a member
of Americus engine No. 6 on February 16, 1854. He served as assistant
foreman in 1860 and 1861, and in the following year was elected foremen, a
post he filled with honor or two years. Mr. Buckbee is a member of the
firm of Ash & Buckbee, plumbers, at the corner of Cedar and William
Streets. He is an ex-president of the Eckford Social Club of Williamsburg,
a prominent member of the City Club and member of the Association of
Exempt, Veteran and Volunteer Firemen. Mr. Buckbee is also a prominent
Mason and one of the most genial and popular "fire laddies" in
the city.

ABRAHAM FRANKLIN was the first secretary of the Fire Department,
being elected on January 17, 1792, on which occasion a constitution for
the Department was drafted and duly adopted.

The first written report of the proceedings of the Fire Department was
made on November 4, 1791, at a meeting held in the house of Jacob Brouwer,
in Nassau Street. Mr. Franklin, then a foreman, was elected secretary. On
January 25, 1792, he was elected the first secretary of the Fire
Department Fund.

MARTIN J. KEESE was a volunteer runner of Fulton Engine Company
No. 21, and upon attaining his majority in 1858 linked his fortunes with
the Matthew T. Brennan Hose company No. 60. He was elected to the office
of representative. In the meantime he went to the war in the eleventh New
York, Ellsworth's fire Zouaves, and was severely wounded at the battle of
Bull Run. On returning he was elected foreman of the company each year til
the break up of the Volunteer Department in 1865. Mr. Keese is a member of
Noah L. Farnham Post No. 458 of the G. A. R., and one of the organizers of
the Exempt firemen's Association, and also one f the organizers of the
Volunteer Firemen's Association, which numbers two thousand one hundred
members. Mr. Keese was deputy sheriff with M. T. Brennan when the arrest
was made at the Metropolitan Hotel of Wm. M. Tweed, and at the
comptroller's office of Richard B. Connolly, and was in jail with the
latter in Ludlow Street jail for about a month until he was admitted to
bail by Judge Barnard, of the Supreme Court. Mr. Keese is now custodian of
the City Hall, an office which he is well qualified to fill.

JORDAN L. MOTT was an active promoter of the Benevolent Fund and
a member of the Ball committee. Mr. Mott, who was a merchant at Beekman
and Cliff Streets, was a member of Hose Company No. 52.